Is this Liam Neeson’s secret Australian love?

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Liam Neeson made headlines last week when he admitted to ‘falling in love’ with an unavailable woman while filming his new movie Blacklight in Melbourne two years ago.

And while the Hollywood star, 68, has remained tight-lipped about the woman’s identity, fans are convinced they’ve worked out who it could be.

As reported by New Idea, armchair detectives believe it could be Melbourne actress Yael Stone, who starred alongside Neeson in Blacklight.

Stone, 36, has been in a happy relationship with Australian businessman Jack Manning Bancroft since 2017. 

There is also speculation Neeson’s mystery woman could be Australian music icon Tina Arena, 54, who lives in Melbourne and has been in a relationship with artist Vincent Mancini since 2000.

Finally, Kylie Minogue’s sister Dannii, 50, has also been thrown into the mix. 

Like Stone and Arena, Minogue is based in Melbourne and has been happily dating boyfriend Adrian Newman since 2014.  

‘Liam is keeping quiet about who the mystery woman is but he’s certainly got everyone on set talking,’ an insider told the magazine.

The source added that Neeson’s friends and colleagues want to see him ‘happy’ after his wife Natasha Richardson’s tragic death 13 years ago.

Neeson had spent several months in Melbourne in 2020 while filming the action movie Blacklight.

Despite the city being in stage-four Covid lockdown at the time, he found himself in a romantic entanglement with a woman, but unfortunately she was ‘taken’.

‘I loved Melbourne. I loved our Australian crew, they are fantastic workers,’ the Taken actor told Sunrise hosts David ‘Kochie’ Koch and Natalie Barr last week.

‘Every department was superb. They were their own people, do you know what I mean? They had a great sense of humour.’ 

Breaking into a knowing smile, the Irish star added: ‘I made a couple of pals… I fell in love, but she was taken.’

Koch and Barr said they were ‘intrigued’ by Neeson’s admission, and even asked viewers to help locate the mystery woman. 

‘If you know the lady involved, go to the Facebook page. Give us some hints!’ Koch said.

Neeson’s late wife Natasha Richardson died at the age of 45 from an epidural hematoma (bleeding around the brain) two days after hitting her head during a beginner’s skiing lesson in Quebec, Canada, in 2009.  

Speaking to CBS’s Anderson Cooper in 2014 about his loss, Neeson recalled arriving at the hospital and being told by doctors his wife was brain dead after her accident. 

‘She was on life support… I went in to her and I told her I loved her. I said, “Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this, you’ve banged your head,”‘ he said.

‘She and I had made a pact, if any of us got into a vegetative state that we’d pull the plug. That was my immediate thought, “Okay, these tubes have to go. She’s gone.”‘ 

Neeson and Richardson married 1994 and shared two sons, Micheál and Daniel. 

Neeson has rarely spoken out about his love life since the loss of his wife, but ended a two-year relationship with British publicist Freya St Johnston in 2012.

An insider told MailOnline at the time: ‘He told her he wanted to spend more time in New York and that he really wants to make more time for his children.

‘Freya wants something more serious, but Liam feels it is too soon. His wife only died three years ago, he wants to take things slow.’

Freya and Neeson began dating in September 2010. They had a long-distance relationship, with Liam living with his sons in New York and Freya living in London with her children.

Neeson also sent fans into a frenzy when  he claimed in 2016 that he had an ‘incredibly famous’ girlfriend. 

The actor had said in a chat with the Irish Independent that he couldn’t reveal who he was dating as she was a well-known celebrity, and his remarks caused Hollywood to go into meltdown over her identity.

However, after the rumour mill went into overdrive, a representative for the actor now confirmed that it was actually a tongue-in-cheek comment that failed to translate. 

‘He was joking with the writer during an interview he was doing with the Irish Independent,’ a spokesperson for the star revealed.

The actor had been asked about Valentine’s Day and what he might buy his girlfriend had been quoted saying in his interview, while refusing to reveal her identity.

He said: ‘I’d embarrass her if I said her name, she’s incredibly famous. I’ll have to do my best for her.

‘It’s amazing how far a simple bunch of freshly picked flowers will go in a lady’s life, I find.’  

He continued, presumably in his mocking style: ‘I’ll send out a few bunches of flowers to various people and I usually just say ‘from an Irish admirer’.’

Following his remarks, there was plenty of talk about who the lady might be – suggestions ranged from the likes of Susan Sarandon and Halle Berry to Twilight actress Kristen Stewart.